


Peacetime Logistics

by FireEye



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28211742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: After the fall of Kefka, there are still questions of the self.
Relationships: Terra Branford/Celes Chere
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2020





	Peacetime Logistics

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eida/gifts).



It had been two full days, and the festivities showed no signs of dying down, even long into the third night. Familiar friends disappeared at random to reappear hours later, and at all hours there were waves of overly-friendly strangers eager to shake her hand or talk her ear clean off.

Eventually, Celes started running out of corners in which to hide and bodies to hide behind.

Not that she was feeling particularly celebratory. They had taken down a god-tyrant, and yes if that didn’t count for something. But what now weighed on her mind was not what gossip whispered loudest through the castle halls or what the storybooks would tell of the past few years but _what came next_ and _whether the world would recover_....

What troubled her spirit the most was that she didn’t _have_ those answers. Neither it seemed did anyone else.

She had spent her entire life practicing the art of war.

She had no experience for a world that desperately required peace.

Escaping to the battlements, she managed – for the time being at least – to leave the party behind her.

Her eyes adjusted to the change in lighting. Oil lamps were lit at intervals along the wall, which had always struck her as odd – Figaro had to have the technology for electric lighting, but damned if Edgar saw fit to implement it within the castle.

For which she saw no reason, other than _it was traditional_ , perhaps.

Within a serene pocket of darkness, illuminated only by the dazzling array of stars cutting across the desert sky, Celes stumbled across another self-imposed outcast.

Back to the walkway, settled on the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest, Terra sat engrossed in the night sky.

Celes at first thought to leave her be without notice. The subtle way her gaze dipped towards the horizon, however, suggested that she had been noticed, even before Terra turned to glance over her shoulder.

Their eyes met for several long seconds until Terra blinked. She inched over, making room on the wall, in an open invitation.

Taking a mere one step forward, Celes hesitated in taking it any further. Terra didn’t glance over her shoulder again, but she was evidently distracted from her stargazing.

“How are you feeling?”

Terra shrugged a shoulder. “Not at all different.”

Celes took another step forward...

“...you?”

...and stopped at the question.

 _Restless_.

But she couldn’t convince herself that particular state of being had anything to do with magic.

“Not different at all.”

Closing the distance, she seated herself beside the other woman, letting her legs slide out to hang over the edge.

The silence between them was warm.

It always had been.

 _Even before_ -...

Celes bit her lip.

And even _after_.

Terra’s voice cut through her thoughts, although she hadn’t thought to think them deeply.

“Where... are you going to go?”

It was all of trading an old concern for a new one.

“I don’t know.”

“You know, you...” Terra sighed. “You’re welcome in Mobliz, if... if you want.”

Celes didn’t answer.

She didn’t know _how_ to answer.

“I bet you’d be more useful than I am.” Terra gave a little toss of her head, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know the first thing about how to repair a roof.”

“Neither do I.”

“Oh.” Terra fidgeted. “Good. I thought I was missing something.”

Celes choked on a snicker. Terra fought back a giggle.

It was a hopeless battle.

They both broke down laughing. For that moment alone, it was strangely liberating, as though the weight of the world was finally lifted. Then the laughter died down, and Terra simply... leaned into her.

It felt _natural_.

Celes raised her arm, hesitantly, then draped it loosely over Terra’s shoulders. Her gaze was drawn to the stars above.

It felt... _right_.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this small breath of 'so now what do we do with our lives?' :D


End file.
